海角大神

It鈥檚 been a rough few weeks for the US-Afghan relationship.

First, some NATO soldiers were found to have burned copies of the Islamic holy book, the Quran, in an open trash heap. That sparked riots that killed more than 30. Then, last week, a US Army sergeant went off his base in Kandahar Province and murdered 16 Afghan civilians.

Small surprise, then, that Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued the US military an ultimatum. Though very few believe Karzai when he says it鈥檚 time for the US to go, this may be the last straw for Afghanistan. The world has seen this type of thing before: There are听strong parallels between Karzai's warnings and those of post-colonial leaders toward their European colonizers in the late 1950s and early 1960s.听

Meeting with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Kabul, Karzai reportedly told Mr. Panetta that and relocated in their bases.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檙e ready to take over all security responsibilities now,鈥� Karzai reportedly told Panetta, according to Karzai鈥檚 spokesman Aimal Faizi, as reported by Agence France-Presse. 鈥淲e鈥檇 prefer that the process be completed in 2013, not 2014.鈥�

So that鈥檚 it, then: a pull back from using military outposts in favor of larger bases, and a pullout by 2013.

Here鈥檚 the problem: Karzai has issued any number of 鈥渓ast warnings鈥� over the years, and many Afghans agree that the thrill, if it ever existed, of such ultimatums is gone.听Afghan observers note that Karzai has a penchant for making tough anti-American speeches for his own increasingly disenchanted Afghan domestic audience, and then dialing back those tough words later on in conversation with Western leaders.

Still, with relations deteriorating between Washington and Kabul, and with a declared withdrawal date of 2014, there is something about Karzai鈥檚 words that bears a tone of finality.

Old Afghan hands such as Monitor correspondent Tom Peter point to a string of Karzai statements that suggested this day would come.

• In March 2011, Karzai appeared to fan the flames of local anger regarding the burning of Qurans by Florida preacher Terry Jones, calling the burning a 鈥渃rime against a听 and entire Muslim听umma听[community]." Days later, protesters in Mazar-e-Sharif attacked a UN guesthouse and killed seven foreign aid workers there.听
• In April 2011, after a NATO airstrike killed 14 civilians in Helmand Province, Karzai called the attack 鈥渕urder鈥� and his office issued what it called his 鈥渓ast warning to the US troops and US officials in this regard.鈥澨�
• And in June 2011, Karzai told participants of a youth conference that US and NATO troops were 鈥渦sing our country.鈥� 鈥淭he nations of the world, which are here in our country are here for their own national interests,鈥� he said at the conference, held in the Presidential Palace in Kabul.

Mr. Obama, for his part, said this week that the US had in Afghanistan, but in an interview with CBS affiliate KDKA, he added, 鈥渋t's important for us to make sure that we get out in responsible way, so that we don't end up having to go back in ... but what we don't want to do is to do it in a way that is just a rush for the exits."

Afghanistan and Congo, Ghana parallels听

While Karzai may be playing domestic politics by voicing the growing Afghan exasperation over misdeeds by US forces, consider the similarity of his tone to these examples from some of Africa's first post-colonial leaders, which seriously complicated the ends of those relationships. There are also strong parallels between Karzai鈥檚 outbursts and those of post-colonial leaders toward their European colonizers in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which seriously complicated the ends of those relationships.

Consider the , prime minister of the newly liberated Democratic Republic of Congo, in his liberation day speech. With the king of Belgium 鈥� Congo鈥檚 former colonial ruler 鈥� seated beside him, Mr. Lumumba said: 鈥淔or this independence of the Congo, even as it is celebrated today with Belgium, a friendly country with whom we deal as equal to equal, no Congolese worthy of the name will ever be able to forget that it was by fighting that it has been won, a day-to-day fight, an ardent and idealistic fight, a fight in which we were spared neither privation nor suffering, and for which we gave our strength and our blood.鈥�

鈥淲e are proud of this struggle, of tears, of fire, and of blood, to the depths of our being,鈥� he continued as the Belgian king reportedly sat stone-faced, 鈥渇or it was a noble and just struggle, and indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by force.鈥�

Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, in his , spent no time thanking his former British colonial masters for their time and effort in developing a 20^th century Ghana.

For Nkrumah, physical liberation from British troops and administrators was only the first step. The real liberation would come when Ghanaians freed their minds from the belief that they needed the British to be present to make their country run.

From now on, today, we must change our attitudes and our minds. We must realize that from now on we are no longer a colonial but free and independent people. But also, as I pointed out, that also entails hard work. That new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs.

If Karzai is following the similar anticolonial path of Patrice Lumumba and Kwame Nkrumah, the US government should not be waiting for a 鈥渢hank you.鈥�

听

听